GENERAL HINTS

Evening Star, Issue 21218, 27 September 1932, Page 2

GENERAL HINTS

Aluminium kettles will last much longer if they are emptied each night and turned upside, down to drain and dry. Tiny pinholes are sometimes caused by leaving a little water in the kettles all night.

An effective method of cleaning carpets or rugs, and also removing the cat and tlog hairs which ordinary brushes cannot cope with, is to tear some newspaper into tiny pieces and soak them in water until thoroughly soft. Then sprinkle the paper all over the carpet and sweep up with a stiff broom. The colour of the carpet will also be greatly improved.

When water begins to run away slowly from the sink pipe there is possibly some grease clinging to the pipe and blocking the passage. To clear this, put a handful of common soda oyer tlie grating and saturate it with vinegar. As it trickles down the drain it will gradually melt the grease, and' the water will run quite freely again.

A handy device for the home workshop may be arranged by procuring several Mason’s jars or other screw-top glass containers and fixing the tops to the under, side of the work bench. When the jars are screwed on they hang suspended, and the handy man will find by using them to keep 1 is nails, screws, small bolts, and other odds and ends in, that much time will bo saved, because the wanted article will be within easy reach and visible.

Sometimes a short end of cord break* away from the upholstery of an easy chair or Chesterfield and begins to unravel. Short ends of this kind should I bo bound at once with a thread of | silk to prevent them from fraying, and at the same time a length of thin* ner cord should be bound on to th® frayed piece. If a little pad of cloth or velveteen is attached to the end of the thin cord and pushed well down between the side of the chair and tha cushioned seat, it will keep the iuise end from slipping out of place. It is usually very difficult to stitch these loose ends so that they will remain in position. /